The total crypto market cap increased by $6.7 billion for the seven-day period and now stands at $141.4. At the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $4,121 while ether (ETH) stands at $141. XRP’s Ripple is at $0.322.
BTC/USD
Bitcoin was extremely volatile during the March 14 session and was trading in the $3,860 to $4,000 range before closing at $3,950 on the Bitfinex daily chart. It climbed to $4,000 on the next day, March 15 gaining 1.2 percent of the value and successfully escaped the $3,800 to $4,000 trading zone it previously entered on February 24.
The weekend of March 16 to 17 started with another green candle, this time to $4,090 on Saturday. The BTC/USD trading pair moved lower, to $4,070 on the last day of the week, but bulls were able to defend their newly conquered territory above $4,000 and the pair closed the seven-day period with 1.8 percent increase.
Trading volumes were stable above $7.5 billion in the analyzed period.
Bitcoin started the first session of the week by closing at $4,075 on March 18, just a few dollars above its price level from Sunday. Bull traders managed to push up to $4,074, during the day trading, but the January high of $4,169 remained out of reach.
On March 19, the most popular cryptocurrency climbed up to $4,104 and on the next day formed its third consecutive green candle ending trading at $4,125.
IBM announced the launch of its World Wire blockchain network on March 18. The real-time cross-border payments solution is based on the Stellar Lumens protocol and integrates payment messaging, clearing and settlement in one. Most importantly, the World Wire allows financial institutions to use multiple digital assets as a bridge facilitating low-cost money transfers.
The network is available in “72 countries, with 47 currencies and 44 banking endpoints” as per the official announcement and already supports settlements in Stellar’s XLM token and the U.S.-backed stablecoin Stronghold. For the moment, six banks have sent letters of intent to participate in the program including Banco Bradesco, Bank Busan, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC).
The South Korean Internet giant Kakao is working to integrate a cryptocurrency wallet to its services, local financial media fnnews reported on March 18. According to unnamed sources close to the company, Kakao will be looking to add a built-in wallet to its KakaoTalk instant messaging app, which currently has more than 45 million active users. The IT giant’s native blockchain network, called Klatyn, will allow users to run blockchain-based applications and serve as a digital asset wallet.
Coinbase announced a new market structure for its Coinbase Pro platform. As announced on March 15, the U.S.-based exchange will be introducing a series of changes to “increase liquidity, enable better price discovery for trades, and to make price movements smoother.” The company will discontinue support for stop market orders on the Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime (institutional trading platform) platforms and will add ten percent market protection point for market orders. Ticker sizes will be updated on some of the pairs while order sizes and fees will be restructured to ensure healthy trading environment.
The popular cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap introduced a new feature to measure a project’s health.The Fundamental Crypto Asset Score (FCAS) rating is a third-party managed service that takes into consideration multiple factors, grouped in three major categories: User Activity, Developer Behavior and Asset Maturity, to create a scale from 1 to 1,000. The top three seeded projects at the moment are Ethereum, Bitcoin and XRP.
ETH/USD
The Ethereum token closed flat at $134.5 on March 14, despite trading in the $131 to $138 range during the day session. Neither bulls or bears were able to take control, still, the Falling Wedge formation on the daily chart indicated a possible breakout in one of the two directions in the coming days. It happened on March 15 when ETH/USD gained 3.7 percent and jumped to $139.
The pair continued its run on March 16 and closed the first day of the weekend at $143 in its third consecutive green session. Bulls were already eyeing the psychological level at $150 and the small correction to $141 on Sunday could not scare them away. Ether ended the week three percent higher.
ETH opened the week by forming another red candle on the daily chart. It lost a dollar of its value to stop at $140.5, still in the upward channel from last week. The ETH/USD pair was trading in the $137 to $145 range as trading volumes were stable between $3.8 and $4.2 billion.
On March 19, ether erased the losses from the previous day and gained a dollar to close at $141.6 and maintain its bullish momentum. On March 20, ETH closed above $142 for the first day since March 16 by stopping at $142.2.
XRP/USD
After closing at $0.32 on March 13, the Ripple company’s XRP token broke below $0.30 during trading session March 14. Bull traders managed to reduce losses and one of the most popular altcoins closed the day at $0.317, right above the previously discussed price range corridor between $0.304 to $0.317.
On March 15, the XRP/USD pair gained 1.2 percent in value and climbed back up to $0.321.
The weekend of March 16 to 17 started with another green candle on the daily chart as the coin temporarily stabilized above $0.32 by breaking above the 38.20 percent Fibonacci level at $0.322 and then ending the session at $0.325. On the same day, buyers were able to push prices up to $0.33 as the sharp movements and highly volatility suggested a possible breakout for the XRP token.
On March 17, observers saw a small price correction to $0.3224, still XRP managed to hold above the very important line at $0.32. It was one percent up for the seven-day period.
XRP moved a little bit lower on March 18 and closed the session at $0.3216. It erased all losses on March 19 by climbing once again to $0.3231. The price of XRP was volatile in both directions on March 20 and traded between $0.317 and $0.329 before closing at $0.324.
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